• Dialing long distance: Not surprisingly, the numbers through 13 games were much more impressive last season when All-Americans Moriah Jefferson, Breanna Stewart and Morgan Tuck were leading the way but one area where the Huskies are more efficient is from the 3-point line. Led by Katie Lou Samuelson and Kia Nurse, the Huskies have made 100 3-pointers (eight more than at the same point last season) while shooting 42 percent from behind the line, the best mark for a UConn team since the 1999-2000 season. No Husky had more 3-pointers than Samuelson (44). As a point of reference, UConn could miss its next 43 3-pointers and still post a better 3-point percentage than the 2015-16 team had. Samuelson, whose 122 3-pointers are the second most in UConn history through 50 games, and Nurse both rank in the top 30 nationally in 3-point percentage.

• Turning the page: The early offensive struggles Nurse had seem like ancient history now. After shooting less than 33 percent from the field and from 3-point range in the first five games, Nurse has quietly become one of the Huskies’ most efficient offensive players, shooting 51.2 percent from the floor and 52 percent on 3-pointers in the last eight games while maintaining a 2/1 assist-to-turnover ratio and drawing the other team’s best perimeter offensive player on defense.

• New-look Pirates: East Carolina not only lost its top four scorers off last year’s team but only return four players who saw game action during the 2015-16. Khadidja Toure, who started 23 games last season, is joined in the starting lineup fellow returnee Gabrielle Holston. East Carolina has rebuilt its roster via transfers over the last couple of seasons and all five projected starters began their careers at other institutions, including double-figure scorers Kristen Gaffney and Bre McDonald, former players at Vanderbilt and West Virginia, respectively.

• An inside look: SNY’s first Huskies: All Access Show debuts after the game at 9:30 p.m. featuring UConn coach Geno Auriemma’s pre-game and post-game comments to the team before some of the key games in early portion of the schedule as well as practice footage.

PROBABLE STARTERS

EAST CAROLINA

Player Pos. PPG

Antoinette Bannister G 7.4

Khadidja Toure G 8.7

Gabrielle Holston G/F 6.9

Kristen Gaffney F 16.4

Bre McDonald F 12.1

UCONN

Player Pos. PPG

Saniya Chong G 5.6

Kia Nurse G 13.6

Katie Lou Samuelson G 20.5

Gabby Williams F 11.2

Napheesa Collier F 19.2

— Jim Fuller

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